austin

We’ve made a decision; a life altering decision. And we’re excited, really excited, to pursue it. We are moving to Austin, Texas!

For most of our marriage, eight years and counting, we have frequently discussed moving out of Minnesota. We have the desire to live somewhere warmer, and to enjoy the adventure of living somewhere new.

In our second year of marriage we moved to Tennessee for a school year while Josh was a resident director at a college. From there we transitioned back to Minnesota for what we thought would be less than a year. Josh was selected as a pilot for the US Air Force and we were in a waiting period before his actual entrance. We spent close to a year working odd jobs and living in temporary places. The crushing blow of his being disqualified left us spinning and rootless. We stayed in Minnesota mostly for a lack of not knowing what else to do.

Almost five years later, it’s time. We’ve had so many discussions but now it is time to start taking the steps. At least until we either drive out of the state or have it be abundantly clear that it’s not what we’re supposed to do.

Josh has been cleared by his current employer, August Ash, to continue as a full time employee and work from home. It will be a nice change to eliminate his 45 minute commute and for the boys to be able to see him more during the week.

Why Austin? Well, we’ve never been there, and to our knowledge we don’t know a single person that lives there. But, we do know it is in beautiful Texas hill country with a surprising amount of rivers/lakes in the area. It’s warm…melt your face hot at times…but the lowest it averages is about 40. As a family we love to spend time outdoors and have longed to live somewhere that we can do that comfortably most of the year.

The cost of living is lower than our current area and combined with eliminating a commute for Josh we are hoping to stretch our finances to pay off our debts more quickly. And possibly affording to travel more. We also think it will be important to live somewhere that the values are more inline with our personal ones. And while I don’t know for sure, but I suspect we will immensely enjoy the culture of Austin as a smaller city, live music and great foodie paradise.

We also hope to be able to put more resources toward Josh’s dream of his private pilots license and possibly a career in the field eventually.

I personally spent the majority of my growing up years living in southern states and am excited about getting back to the southern culture – friendly people, conservatives, big hair, fried okra, country music (don’t hate!), Biblical sensitivity, and sweet tea. In some ways it feels like home.

Also, I’ve always thought it would be really awesome to have a coke (because he doesn’t drink beer) with the G. W. Bush. In Austin I should be closer to our seven degrees of separation. I kid…mostly.

We’re currently planning to move this summer after the school year finishes for Shane. And I suppose we should start liking football…hook ’em horns!